Jag är nyfiken - en film i gult - I Am Curious Yellow

Directed by Vilgot Sjöman.Starring Lena Nyman, Vilgot Sjöman, Börje Ahlstedt among many others.Yellow is at first confusing, then frustrating, then it starts making sense. Nothing makes sense while you watch it until you see the irony and playfulness weaving in and out of the film. Vilgot has imbued his film with a uniquely Nordic sensibility, humor and craftiness that comes from living half the year in a dark, frozen climate. To understand the film I had to pause it, step back and reflect on what Sjöman was trying to say through his story and characters. The camera crews making a documentary of a documentary is what finally clued me into Vilgot odd sense of humor, wit and most of all irony. Sjöman's narrative style is multi-layered and it took me time to understand, because I was using subtitles. Basically, its a story that is being filmed as a documentary within a documentary about a confused young woman, trying to sort her life out while growing up in modern Sweden.

The explicit sex scenes made this a truly marketable film due to US Customs seizing the film and the subsequent legal proceeding that removed its obscenity status and opened the doors for porno films to be shown in public theaters. The film I Am Curious Yellow earned over $6 million in its initial 1969 US theatrical run.

The scene below helped me to understand the dark Nordic humor and playfulness in the film. Vilgot is making a documentary of a documentary of a documentary. In the scene, Lena can't get into the Yoga position, so the entire crew helps her by demonstrating their own positions.